Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 10,692 Shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. $BFH

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans reduced its stake in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) by 24.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 33,396 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,692 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned 0.07% of Bread Financial worth $2,472,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Bread Financial by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,273,797 shares of the company’s stock worth $294,120,000 after buying an additional 30,962 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Bread Financial by 0.5% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,076,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,557,000 after buying an additional 16,143 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Bread Financial by 4.4% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,555,968 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,776,000 after purchasing an additional 65,223 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its holdings in Bread Financial by 44.5% in the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 943,659 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,628,000 after purchasing an additional 290,803 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Bread Financial by 104.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 736,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,889,000 after purchasing an additional 376,920 shares during the period. 99.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Roger H. Ballou sold 9,687 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.32, for a total transaction of $874,929.84. Following the sale, the director owned 30,079 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,735.28. This represents a 24.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John J. Fawcett purchased 698 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $86.43 per share, for a total transaction of $60,328.14. Following the acquisition, the director owned 11,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $950,730. The trade was a 6.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Bread Financial Price Performance

Shares of BFH opened at $86.54 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.31. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.17 and a fifty-two week high of $99.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market cap of $3.50 billion, a PE ratio of 7.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.12.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $1.18. Bread Financial had a net margin of 11.90% and a return on equity of 18.79%. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $992.05 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.86 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 10.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $600.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 19% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BFH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $98.00 price objective on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Bread Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. BTIG Research upped their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Bread Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Bread Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.25.

Bread Financial Company Profile

Bread Financial, formerly known as Alliance Data Systems, is a Columbus, Ohio–based financial services company that specializes in providing private label credit programs, co-brand credit cards and digital payment solutions for retail partners. The company designs, issues and services proprietary credit products, enabling merchants to offer branded financing options that drive customer loyalty and increase basket sizes at the point of sale. Through its Bread technology platform, Bread Financial delivers installment-based payment options that integrate directly into e-commerce and in-store checkout experiences.

In addition to its core credit offerings, Bread Financial provides analytics, marketing and loyalty services to help merchants better understand consumer behavior and optimize promotional strategies.